In an effort to overlap studio research with in class demonstrations I have been trying to perfect the model/print/cast work flow by making a few rings and things. I should have a few prints off the machine tonight to present to my class on Wednesday. Squeezing in studio time has been hard.
I have been bad about posting to the blog but I hope to get more stuff up here soon. I really want to get this down but burnout times and print material has been tricky. I am printing in a "castable" material on the ASIGA printers. I say "castable" because it has been kind of a crap shoot. You have to vacuum the flask before pouring otherwise you get horrible pitting. Larger chunky items seem to cast not problem. Smaller, more detailed items seem to have pitting and surface texturing.
If anyone has some advice I would love to hear it.
I went to an auction the other day. It was kind of intense. They were selling everything! The company manufactured lockets. They were apparently the largest manufacturer of lockets in the world. From the size of the place and the number of machines they had I am not surprised.
It was fascinating to see the kick-press stations set up to make an object. The first, presses the metal. The second punches the metal. The third bends the metal and so on.
I was also kind of sad. They are seriously downsizing. It was almost like going to the pound and seeing all the animals in their cages. There was a guy who bought probably 100 kick-presses just to dismantle them for the legs. Apparently in NYC people pay top dollar for a side boy with cast iron legs. The top just gets scraped.
If I had a larger studio I probably would have tried to bid on the bridgeports, southbend lathes or screwpresses they had. Also I would have needed a truck and a forklift.
Liz and I have been trying to give ourselves a break before school starts by just not doing anything. I don't know who we were trying to kid. It is like asking someone not to breathe. After about ten minutes of sitting around we get bored and then start finding things to do. For example, re-arranging the furniture in the house or baking bread.
I have been trying to go up to school to provide input/suggestions to Brian who is re-working parts of the metals studio. We ordered some very nice cabinets and we are installing them in the 3D print room, the sophomore room and the grad room.
While I was at school I was invited to try out the new HTC VIVE. It is a new VR head set. If you have not had a chance to try it or if you find yourself in a position to try it, YOU SHOULD. It is amazing. It is not like the cheapo, slide in your cell phone in the side model. It is full emerson. You can interact with your environment and the handhelds provide some feedback through vibration. I would highly recommend the drawing in 3D space app. It is very intuitive. They trying out some CAD software, which is very similar to sculptris. So far so good. The unit costs around $800 but you will need a computer with a serious processor and video card to make it work without lag. All of this together and you are looking more at $3,000.00! I was told that it one of the best models on the market. It compensates for motion-sickness by using 360 degree tracking and chaperone guidance software to keep you from running into a wall. After having the headset on for a few minutes you will quickly understand how amazing this thing is.
On a completely unrelated note, taco had to have five teeth pulled. Poor little mush mouth. He is already back to his normal self. I will say that his breath has improved immensely.
I have been working on some handouts for this upcoming semester. One of my classes focuses on CAD for jewelry. Its has been nice to be able to teach this class on just jewelry for once. It narrows the focus just enough to make real strides in designing curriculum. A lot of the class has to do with designing and visualizing in the software. Basically rendering. I found some books in special collections at the RISD library that are blowing my mind. One book in particular had hand rendered jewelry from Vienna.
A couple of days ago Liz and I went to a Portuguese street festival in New Bedford. It was amazing. They had an open BBQ pit where you can grill your own food. You rent these giant skewers and can buy meat or bring your own. They only sold meat so all of the vegetables and pork and chicken you see in the photo was brought in by each individual BBQ'er. Liz and I are already strategizing for next year!
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